Non-Sponsor Nike Trounces Adidas for World Cup Video Views

Advertising Age Player //--> Marketers' video campaigns surrounding the 2014 FIFA World Cup attracted an unprecedented amount of views, beating out commercial views for both the recent Super Bowl and Olympic Games. With 97 campaigns in total, branded videos related to the tournament reached a staggering 671.6 million views, exceeding that of this year's Super Bowl spots by 30%, according to a new study by Visible Measures. That's partly to be expected, considering the World Cup's month of play and global fascination, compared with the Super Bowl's mere hours of game time and uniquely United States base. But there is still a considerable run-up to the Super Bowl, when marketers release web videos ahead of time seeking views. And the World Cup video campaigns outperformed a variety of prior campaigns on many fronts. Marketers averaged 6.9 million views per campaign, compared with the average 2 million views per campaign in 2013 as a whole. Visible Measures said viewership for World Cup-related ads was the equivalent of 8% of the total branded video views last year. World Cup sponsor Adidas unquestionably beat non-sponsor Nike for TV time and exposure, but Nike reigned as the most-viewed brand of the tournament in terms of online video, with eight campaigns garnering a total 240.6 million views, according to Visible Measures. Nike's "Risk Everything" and "The Last Game" were the two most viewed campaigns at 122.2 million and 97.1 million views respectively. Samsung's "Galaxy 11: The Training" came in third at 74.5 million; Adidas' "The Dream" was fourth with 45.9 million and "Samsung's "Galaxy 11" took fifth place with 38.3 million views. The length of the top ten most-viewed videos averaged 3:15, a minute and a half longer than the top Super Bowl campaigns this year. Nike's "The Last Game," for example, was five and a half minutes long. "Based on our analysis, we have found that brands are placing more emphasis on creating higher-quality video that emphasize compelling storytelling and a longer narrative to hook viewers," Visible Measures CEO Brian Shin said in a statement. Lionel Messi, who starred in 11 campaigns, was the most frequent endorser in the campaigns, while Cristiano Ronaldo, the star of Nike's two biggest spots, attracted the most views.

Non-Sponsor Nike Trounces Adidas for World Cup Video Views

Featured Stories